Closing USAID

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Trump places secret service agents in his own luxury resorts while he plays golf and yet here you are talking about people living overseas and helping humanitarian aid? How can you explain that?

We didn't buy the resort for Trump, though. Nor do we subsidize his mortgage. It's different to bill the taxpayers for the accommodations.

All this said, one thing I haven't seen mentioned is that a house staff is much cheaper overseas and is pretty standard for middle class and up. It would be weird to have diplomatic staff living below the normal lifestyle for their relative class in a host nation.

Right - so let them use their very high salary to pay for the staff instead of tying the staff into the state department paid for and approved lease.

They are making like 70,000-190,000/yr. Where is this "high salary" trope coming from?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Trump places secret service agents in his own luxury resorts while he plays golf and yet here you are talking about people living overseas and helping humanitarian aid? How can you explain that?

We didn't buy the resort for Trump, though. Nor do we subsidize his mortgage. It's different to bill the taxpayers for the accommodations.

All this said, one thing I haven't seen mentioned is that a house staff is much cheaper overseas and is pretty standard for middle class and up. It would be weird to have diplomatic staff living below the normal lifestyle for their relative class in a host nation.

Right - so let them use their very high salary to pay for the staff instead of tying the staff into the state department paid for and approved lease.

Why are you so critical of working people but then you let the richest man in the world take government subsidies?

Huh - is this your comeback? USAID employees abroad compensation packages can near a million dollars. And this post is about USAID. As for Musk - I probably don't agree with many subsidies, but not the point of this discussion topic.

This is so stupid and obviously false. Not a single USAID employee’s compensation package is anywhere close to a million dollars.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Trump places secret service agents in his own luxury resorts while he plays golf and yet here you are talking about people living overseas and helping humanitarian aid? How can you explain that?

We didn't buy the resort for Trump, though. Nor do we subsidize his mortgage. It's different to bill the taxpayers for the accommodations.

All this said, one thing I haven't seen mentioned is that a house staff is much cheaper overseas and is pretty standard for middle class and up. It would be weird to have diplomatic staff living below the normal lifestyle for their relative class in a host nation.

Right - so let them use their very high salary to pay for the staff instead of tying the staff into the state department paid for and approved lease.

Why are you so critical of working people but then you let the richest man in the world take government subsidies?

Huh - is this your comeback? USAID employees abroad compensation packages can near a million dollars. And this post is about USAID. As for Musk - I probably don't agree with many subsidies, but not the point of this discussion topic.

This is so stupid and obviously false. Not a single USAID employee’s compensation package is anywhere close to a million dollars.

https://www.commerce.gov/hr/practitioners/compensation-policies/general-pay/overseas-pay-for-civil-service-employees

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Trump places secret service agents in his own luxury resorts while he plays golf and yet here you are talking about people living overseas and helping humanitarian aid? How can you explain that?

We didn't buy the resort for Trump, though. Nor do we subsidize his mortgage. It's different to bill the taxpayers for the accommodations.

All this said, one thing I haven't seen mentioned is that a house staff is much cheaper overseas and is pretty standard for middle class and up. It would be weird to have diplomatic staff living below the normal lifestyle for their relative class in a host nation.

Right - so let them use their very high salary to pay for the staff instead of tying the staff into the state department paid for and approved lease.

Why are you so critical of working people but then you let the richest man in the world take government subsidies?

Huh - is this your comeback? USAID employees abroad compensation packages can near a million dollars. And this post is about USAID. As for Musk - I probably don't agree with many subsidies, but not the point of this discussion topic.

This is so stupid and obviously false. Not a single USAID employee’s compensation package is anywhere close to a million dollars.

https://www.commerce.gov/hr/practitioners/compensation-policies/general-pay/overseas-pay-for-civil-service-employees

There is nowhere in that link that makes ANY suggestion of a million dollar salary or benefit package.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Trump places secret service agents in his own luxury resorts while he plays golf and yet here you are talking about people living overseas and helping humanitarian aid? How can you explain that?

We didn't buy the resort for Trump, though. Nor do we subsidize his mortgage. It's different to bill the taxpayers for the accommodations.

All this said, one thing I haven't seen mentioned is that a house staff is much cheaper overseas and is pretty standard for middle class and up. It would be weird to have diplomatic staff living below the normal lifestyle for their relative class in a host nation.

Right - so let them use their very high salary to pay for the staff instead of tying the staff into the state department paid for and approved lease.

They are making like 70,000-190,000/yr. Where is this "high salary" trope coming from?

That is a high salary for many in our area though, and let's be real, most of his followers are on the poorer end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

That's our fault??? They weren't hiding. Perhaps YOU should reexamine your news sources.

Who was on USAID board besides Samantha Powers?

Anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Trump places secret service agents in his own luxury resorts while he plays golf and yet here you are talking about people living overseas and helping humanitarian aid? How can you explain that?

I recently learned that Magas think that Trump lets them STAY FOR FREE.

I was battling him about the House Republicans having their retreat at Mar-a-Lago and how wasteful it was. "Are you kidding me? Why wouldn't we use the free resort he owns?" "Do you really think he allows them all to come there for free?" "Of course! HE OWNS IT!"

"If the Democrats can go to Lansdowne Resort for theirs, why shouldn't the Republicans use a facility he owns? That's smart money." Yep, that's smart money on this part, all right. He's lining his pockets with your tax dollars, Uncle Billy. He refused to believe Trump charges the US Gov. He refused to acknowledge that it made better financial sense for the House Republicans to also hold their retreat locally with less travel money involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe that democrats have chosen this issue as a hill to die on. Shows how out of touch they are. Guess their flow of money is about to dry up.

This isn't a hill to die on. This is stopping a president from unilaterally closing an agency (created by statute by Congress) for no reason and firing thousands of federal workers as well as stopping congressionally appropriated funding directed to the agency, the employees, and to the work that the agency does.

If Biden did this, you would be up in arms. There will be a Democrat president in the future - should he have this power? No, of course not. Then why should Trump have it?

When we get a Democratic president in 2028, I hope they fk sht up SO bad. I want them to go so fking low that they'll be shaking hands with the devil. You can't maintain your scruples when the other side has none.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

You guys will find a way to still blame Biden in 4 years. Trump is obsessed with anyone that's ever beaten him and that makes all you obsessed.

Not blaming anyone just a little bitter I didn’t think to set up a nonprofit Defending Democracy or Trans rights in Ughanda, the pay myself mid to high six figures, live in Bethesda, and criticize the dumb plebes for not being enlightened enough to love Biden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Just because you're uneducated, don't assume most others are. Plenty of people have heard of USAID.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

That is a them problem. USAID has been a public agency for decades. Maybe the electorate needs to be better educated about our government and how it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Trump places secret service agents in his own luxury resorts while he plays golf and yet here you are talking about people living overseas and helping humanitarian aid? How can you explain that?

We didn't buy the resort for Trump, though. Nor do we subsidize his mortgage. It's different to bill the taxpayers for the accommodations.

All this said, one thing I haven't seen mentioned is that a house staff is much cheaper overseas and is pretty standard for middle class and up. It would be weird to have diplomatic staff living below the normal lifestyle for their relative class in a host nation.

Right - so let them use their very high salary to pay for the staff instead of tying the staff into the state department paid for and approved lease.

Why are you so critical of working people but then you let the richest man in the world take government subsidies?

Huh - is this your comeback? USAID employees abroad compensation packages can near a million dollars. And this post is about USAID. As for Musk - I probably don't agree with many subsidies, but not the point of this discussion topic.

This is so stupid and obviously false. Not a single USAID employee’s compensation package is anywhere close to a million dollars.

https://www.commerce.gov/hr/practitioners/compensation-policies/general-pay/overseas-pay-for-civil-service-employees

There is nowhere in that link that makes ANY suggestion of a million dollar salary or benefit package.

Housing allowance in Bogota is 65k + a year. Education allowance is $18k per kid per year. Hardship pay is 15% of salary. Chauffeured vehicles for all transportation needs about 20k a year. Medical care and expenses can be very high. If a spouse is pregnant they get an all expense paid trip back to the states (full per diem for 4 months) to have the baby. They also get paid plane tickets and travel to take leave. Not saying that we do not need foreign service - but being a foreign assigned USAID employee is not a life of sacrifice and comes with significant cost/compensation.

[Anonymous]

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These grants have nothing to do with the things people are complaining about.

How do you figure??

DP...
Elon and the Trump White House are completely full of crap. They have provided ZERO evidence that the funds are actually for the things he claims they are.

As just an example, here is a link to the grant for the Ireland DEI musical fund.

https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_SEI30022GR0010_1900

The trans opera in a Columbia was approved by the state department’s bureau of western hemisphere affairs, backed up by the house foreign affairs chairman.

The department and chairman approved these projects should be ashamed of themselves.

These criminals have gone into hiding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just a regular person and the amount of dumb stuff this dept spends money on is pretty infuriating. Why is there also over 10k employees for a dept most Americans have never heard of. Good riddance and I hope they go back to the core mission under the state dept.

Again, WHY are there over TEN THOUSAND employees for a dept most Americans have NEVER heard of?

Because most of them are out doing the work in the field - different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, mostly along with the support staff that goes with it.

This is not going to build support - especially when people learn of the ridiculous compensation and entitlements these employees get. Did you know we rent houses and apartments for these employees that happen to come with full time cleaners and personal chefs? The State Department only approves local landlords with robust personal service riders. So these “aid” workers are living in penthouse apartments in Bogota or gated mansions in Abuja with full household staffs - all at taxpayer expense. In Bogota that comes with a fleet of chauffeured SUVs that personally drive their kids to the $61,000 per year British International School that - again - US taxpayers pay for.

Trump places secret service agents in his own luxury resorts while he plays golf and yet here you are talking about people living overseas and helping humanitarian aid? How can you explain that?

We didn't buy the resort for Trump, though. Nor do we subsidize his mortgage. It's different to bill the taxpayers for the accommodations.

All this said, one thing I haven't seen mentioned is that a house staff is much cheaper overseas and is pretty standard for middle class and up. It would be weird to have diplomatic staff living below the normal lifestyle for their relative class in a host nation.

Right - so let them use their very high salary to pay for the staff instead of tying the staff into the state department paid for and approved lease.

Why are you so critical of working people but then you let the richest man in the world take government subsidies?

Huh - is this your comeback? USAID employees abroad compensation packages can near a million dollars. And this post is about USAID. As for Musk - I probably don't agree with many subsidies, but not the point of this discussion topic.

LOL, no.